Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We set six key priorities: strengthening the economy and prioritising new jobs for the unemployed, delivering better living and working standards, improving housing availability and affordability, responsible and sustainable management of the public finances, rebuilding trust in politics and public institutions, and protecting and enhancing peace in Northern Ireland. We then set about delivering those priorities.

Coalition governments are not easy. By definition, two parties with different political outlooks will disagree on issues from time to time. That is as it should be – robust debate is to be welcomed, not feared. The key is compromise – to find an agreed solution that works in the country's best interests. To find compromise, there must be trust and professionalism – that is at the heart of any coalition government. The late US President John F. Kennedy, once said, "Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer." That is the core of the agreement that the Taoiseach and I reached - at all times seeking the right answer that will best serve the people of Ireland.

The Taoiseach is a man of integrity who has nothing other than Ireland's best interests at heart. The trust at the centre of the Government has created the room for vigorous debate on policy that need not be taken as a crisis every time there is disagreement. We had plenty of vigorous debate in advance of the budget but in the end, agreed a package that met our mutual objectives as laid down in the statement of Government priorities.

The recent budget marked a decisive shift, completing the first phase of the recovery and beginning the second - restoring living standards for families, older people, and low and middle-income workers. It combined modest, but focused, increases in public expenditure to address clear and identifiable needs, with highly progressive adjustments in USC and taxation that give the greatest proportion of the gains to low and middle-income workers. Those adjustments in taxation will be seen in workers' pay packets from January, and every worker will benefit.

Having already taken 310,000 workers out of the USC net in 2011, we removed an additional 80,000 workers from the USC net in the recent budget. We made a series of other tax reforms that ensured 33,000 workers have been taken out of the top tax rate, tax has been reduced for those earning between €33,800 and €70,000, and the gains are capped for anybody earning over €70,000.

Also from January, we are increasing child benefit by €5 for all families to assist with the cost of raising children, and we will repeat that in the next budget. We have restored a 25% Christmas bonus for social welfare recipients this year, including pensioners, persons living alone, those with disabilities and carers, and we are providing for additional spending and new initiatives – through the Pathways to Work strategy and the Action Plan for Jobs – to increase the momentum on the employment front and to help jobseekers return to work.

We are providing a record €3.8 billion for social housing and have started to recruit more teachers in our schools – including special needs assistants - and more gardaí on our streets. That is the social dividend, the investment dividend into Irish society. We are rolling out a national broadband plan to assist economic growth, job creation and social inclusion in every community. However, we must do much more than that, and we will. The Government is committed to getting more people back to work, helping small businesses to prosper, building social and affordable homes and new schools, investing in health and reducing inequality. In other words, the Government is committed to ensuring that the recovery works for the many and not just the few.

Work and fair wages are front and centre to that aim. Full employment must be our key priority, because the strongest protection against poverty is decent, secure and fairly paid work. Labour is the party of work. That has been my abiding conviction since I first entered politics and it is my abiding conviction as leader of the Labour Party. Many in this House who identify as being on the left devalue people going to work.

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